Toyota Begins Venza Production in Kentucky

Venza couples the styling and comfort of a passenger car with the flexibility of a sport utility vehicle (SUV), to give customers a stylish alternative to the traditional sedan.

"It's always exciting to launch a new product," stated Steve St. Angelo, President of TMMK and senior vice-president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing,North America (TEMA). "For Toyota to select TMMK as the production site is a real tribute to our team members and the experience of working side-by-side with our design and engineering groups has been very valuable."

All aspects of Venza's engineering and design were targeted specifically for the North American market, where it will be sold exclusively. Venza was primarily engineered at Toyota Technical Center inAnn Arbor, Mich., and designed at Toyota's Calty Design studios inNewport Beach, Calif. andAnn Arbor. Venza will be exclusively assembled at TMMK.

TMMK has the capacity to build about 70,000 Venzas annually. The plant's manufacturing flexibility allows the Venza to be built on the same assembly line with the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Solara convertible. More than 30 Kentucky-based suppliers will supply parts for the Venza including seats and glass components. Venza's overall domestic content is approximately 70 percent.

TMMK is Toyota's largest plant inNorth America employing about 7,000 team members with the annual capacity to produce 500,000 engines and vehicles.

Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations inNorth America in 1957 and currently operates 13 manufacturing plants. In addition, new plants are under construction inOntario, Canada andMississippi. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships inNorth America which sold more than 2.9 million vehicles in 2007. Toyota directly employs over 43,000 inNorth America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $21 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $30 billion per year.

Toyota currently produces 11 vehicles inNorth America, including the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, Venza and the Lexus RX 350. When production begins inOntario andMississippi, Toyota will have 15 manufacturing plants with the annual capacity to build approximately 2.2 million cars and trucks, 1.49 million engines and 425,000 automatic transmissions. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com .

SOURCE Toyota Motor Manufacturing,Kentucky, Inc.

Copyright © 2009, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze, Daily News

Tags: ,AUT,TRN,KY-Toyota-Makes-Venza

   _   _

           

Is your favorite bookmark site missing? Ask for it.